1. All New RPs Must Abide By The Rules. They can be found here: Rules And FAQ. This means that a new RP posted must abide by the following criteria:

1. Before you start an RP, you MUST make sure that you have at least one person to play with.

2. Don't ever copy someone else's RP.

3. Always have a recognisable plot and at least one paragraph for an intro.

4. Don't start a new RP for every new character; introduce that character into an existing RP!

Any new RPs that break even one of these rules will be locked.

2. Only one RP per person, per week can be posted. This is to stop the forum being flooded with an influx of identical RPs like last time.

3. Category rule has been revoked. Since there aren't as many RPers on the forum now as there were before, I have revoked the rule about categories. However, if I see an influx of RPs with identical plots again, I will be forced to reapply this rule.

4. If you post an RP, do NOT start playing til I have approved it. Due to the fact that some people are having trouble understanding this, I am adding it to the rules topic. If you post a new RP, then people can join it, but no-one can post on it til I have approved it. Don't think that just cuz your rulebreaking RP reaches over three pages that it will be allowed to stay; it won't.

Notes On Characters.

OK, this is something that obviously needs to be done now, as some people don't seem to get how to make an RP character. Here is the checklist of what we will be covering in this section:

1. Name, rank, and number.

2. Context, background and other important things.

3. Mary Sue and other character atrocities.

Name, Rank And Number.
Let's take a look at the first item on the list; Name, rank, and number. A lot of RPs will expect you to fill out a character form which usually looks something like this:

Name: Age: Race: Appearence: Bio:

Let's break this down bit by bit. Now, the name might be a problem for some people; I know I find it a pain to try and think up a name to fit a character. That's why I tend to look round baby name sites for names. Also, book character names are a good bet. As for surnames, pick out either baby names that could suit a surname, or take surnames off TV characters and the like. Make the name sound realistic, like a name that could appear in real life. Even long winded real life names generally are chosen for a reason, for example, naming the child after several relatives. They rarely are given names that pertain to physical appearence, due to the fact that all babies look pretty much alike when given names. So none of that, or you'll be heading into dangerous, Mary Sue infested waters.

Age; shouldn't be a problem. Just look at the RP; is it a teenage one? Or are there lots of different ages? Even if there are, please make the character realistic as per his or her age group. For example, an eight year old is not going to go around with a group of sixteen year olds. Even an eight year old prodigy isn't; most teens will refuse to have a little kid tagging along with them. Even the most profound, mature, intelligent eight year old is never going to be on the same wavelength as a bunch of teens. So scrap the idea right now and make your character around the same age as the others.

Race and appearance are easy; if the RP allows other races besides human, then pick one... and stick to it. Even if you slightly alter the characteristics in some way, you can't make it all good. There has to be some bad points involved. Everyone has faults; and your character must have some, too; these are things like laziness, greed, spite and selfishness. As for appearence; we'll cover the goods and bads of that later, when we *gulp* meet Mary Sue.

For your bio, be brief. Don't go into vastly detail about what happened to your character, that can be brought out later in the RP. Just put down a few key points, and leave it. No excruciating detail, please. That too is a Sueish characteristic.

Context, Background And Other Important Things.
We will assume that the person starting the RP is a regular RPer, with common sense and intelligence.

First, they will give a potted history of the RP, giving out some basic information about the RP like what time it's set in, where it's set, and the situation the players will be RPing. Then, there's some information about context. Then will be a character description and form for the other players to fill in, but not always; some RPers prefer for you to describe your character in your opening paragraph. Finally, will come the opening paragraph the RP owner writes to start the whole shebang off.

Context. Remember me saying that in the paragraph above? Well, here's the meaning of context:

The context is the issues and trends that surround the time that the RP is set in, ie an RP set in the flapper period would reflect many issues and trends from its context of the 1920s.

So, if the RP is a spaceage one, yes you can use warpspeed or travel to distant planets. However, doing either in the aforementioned 1920s RP would be grossly out of context and therefore disrupting the RP for the players who are playing it properly.

Also, if rules are laid down, then please follow them. They are at the owner's discretion as to how far in either direction you can go, but if they say you are breaking a rule with your character, then you withdraw or modify your character. Don't like it? Then get out, and start your own RP. Make sure you read this section very carefully. This is very important, as an out of context character can, and will, kill an RP dead. Particularly if the character is also a Mary Sue.

The same goes for background. Make sure the character's background fits in with the RP. If the RP consists of normal high school kids, do not have a character who's the daughter of a Prince. That is unrealistic, and Sueish. Make your character ordinary; that's not boring, except in the hands of a boring person. The other things you need to remember are not to whine if your character is disliked by other characters; that is normal. No-one is liked by everyone; also have your character dislike someone. Also, if the RP owner has put down conditions that have to be met, or orders in the RP, then follow them. Sometimes the owner will insist on all posts to be at least a full paragraph; for only experienced RPers; for a particular plot detail to be decided by him/her only. Do not just steam ahead and break these rules, or you will be kicked out. If you don't like the conditions, then don't join. Simple as that.

Mary Sue and other character atrocities.
Before we move on to Mary Sue, first let me list a few more character atrocities.

1. A thin character. No, that does not mean a skinny character, just one that has no detail whatsoever. For example, just name, age and a power description. A character bio must contain a personality description, listing both good and bad points.

2. A character with just a picture as a description. If you use a picture as an appearence reference, then that's fine; just remember that you must also include a paragraph on personality. I cannot stress this enough.

3. A character that doesn't interact. There is no point whatsoever in joining an RP if you're just going to go your own sweet way and not interact with the other players.

Finally, we get on to Mary Sue. If you are unsure about whether your character is a Mary Sue or not, then PM me your character form and I will tell you. The main characteristics of a Mary Sue are listed below:

2. Perfect in every way. Only Mary Poppins is "practically perfect in every way." Anyone else who has no faults is a Mary Sue. Faults are things like bad temper, laziness, greed, clumsiness. NOT "she was so beautiful all the girls were jealous." X_x Also, do not list a character's strengths as "everything." They must have power or school weaknesses, cuz everyone does.

3. Being the girlf of a canon character.This applies to RPs that are based on TV, anime, or books. Just don't. If in the canon two characters are boyf and girlf, you stick to that. You can play the girlf, but don't change her character to fit your own. Which leads us on to...

4. Makes canon characters behave out of character. Don't do this. If you can't do this, then make an original RP instead.

5. Constantly bangs on about her tragic past. No-one's saying you can't have a character with past tragedy, just don't have them constantly bring it up, unless it pertains to the RP. Also, your character can not be the focus of the RP, or be the main character.

Sorry, I don't know if this is the right place to post this but; I really want to get more into roleplaying, but all the roleplays that are frequently posted on here are to long and the 'newbie' RPs which I am involved in are very slow moving. I would like to start my own but I don't really have any ideas. Does anyone have any ideas for topics ect. If you don't mind of course. I don't want to lumber you with the stupid Rp noob xD

Read the RP categories thread first so that you don't inadvertantly post an RP in a full category. You should also read the other stickies, as I have tips on RP starting in them. Finally, you need to make sure you have at least one other person to RP with. Other people may join after you start it, but you need to have at least one person at the beginning.

Your best bet is to pick something you're interested, then go on from there. You're interested in Dr Who and Torchwood; you could try doing an RP based on either of them. Just make sure that you describe each show's characters and plot well, so that anyone who doesn't watch it can still RP. For an example of this, read this RP's first page: Condemned: Sonic Destruction I've never played that game in my life; however, due to Wolfie's excellent description, that didn't matter.

You should also post a plot paragraph at least as long as hers, giving any players something to start from; and also make your preliminary paragraph as long as hers. Don't just post a few sentences; that's what a lot of people do and it's a bad idea, as your post is the first post and the one that all players have to start from. If your RP is based on a TV show or movie, you will also have to pay attention to canon; ie make sure that no-one either plays a canon character out of character, or does something that doesn't exist in the show. For example, in a Dr Who RP, making someone be more powerful than the Doctor.

If you picked something on those shows, that would be Sci-fi; you'd have to PM me your first post so I could see if it would work before I opened up a new category.

i must really be slow or just very tired cuz ive read the rulez a bazillion timez and i dont get them still.i get everything with the charicter and no mary sues or anything like that but i still dont get most of it.

What's so hard to understand? It's just telling you what to do and what not to do. You have to have a good opening paragraph (or more, which is preferred), a thoroughly explained plot, maybe a set of rules for your RP, etc. And you can't copy somebody else's RP; that will get you into serious trouble. There's also categories for the different RPs; max for RP category is 3 each, so check the RPG Category thread.

I stare at the girl in the mirror: T-shirt, torn up jeans, no beauty queen.
But the way that you see me, you get underneath me, and all my defenses just fall away, fall away.
I am beautiful with you, even in the darkest part of me. I am beautiful with you;
Make it feel the way it's supposed to be!

You're here with me: Just show me this and I'll believe I am beautiful with you!

So I've RPed a ton before, like a ton a ton, for at least 4 years and at least over a thousand RP's (not joking). So it's safe to say that I know a few things about RPing. However I can't say I've seen any rules quite like this before. The fact that you have categories and only 3 rps can be in each, is odd. Plus to me the categories don't exactly make sense. Are they genres such as action, romance or what not, or what? Many categories or genres can have thousands of different plots. So why limit?